Naruto A New Path
by Haru Takami
Summary: The life of a ninja is frought with danger, suspence, and....weird teachers? folow our 3 young genin and their jounin sensei along their travels as shinobi! dose not follow naruto's life, beginning a big corny but it gets better! trust me! read to believe
1. Graduation

**Naruto - A New Path**

disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, or any of its respective clans. Nor do I own Tokka-sensei, Tenhime-neechan, or Keru. All I own is myself, Haru, and this plotline. also, this is my first time writing an actual fanfic that either A) dose not center around an actual character from the show, or B) dose not require (not "dose not need") help from readers to continue, if you want to help, go ahead, I would be more than grateful. Also, sorry for the crappy beginning, but my brain is running on empty.

now, on with the story!

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-Konohagakure no Sato. The Hidden Village of the Leaves. Many years have passed, and Uzumaki Naruto, the number-one, hyper-active, knuckle headed ninja, has become hokage. But hey, we're not here to talk about him, nor his beautiful and buxom wife, Uzumaki Hinata, no. We're heading back to the acadamy, where the genin graduation exams are about to take place...-

Umino Iruka sat behind his desk, a slip of paper sitting before him. He sighed as he looked down upon hte paper, scratching the scar adorning his face as he did, his dark brown hair pulled back into its traditional ponytail, or, "warriors wolf tail" as he argued whenever students would laugh at it. This part of the year was always hardest, because it meant some students would either leave...something he regretted as he would no longer be able to see them regularly, or stay behind another year...something he regretted worse if the student liked to cause trouble.

Looking up at the class he sighed again, taking in the many faces for possibly the last time. He finnaly stood up, and all murmuring stopped quickly. "Alright students, Today is your genin graduation exam.I want you all to give it your best shot, if you graduate, you will finnally become full-fledged ninja of the hidden leaf village." the murmuring started up again, only now it was eager rather than random, Iruka cleared his throat to gain everyones attention again. "Now, I'll call off your names one at a time and you will go into the next room and demonstrate something of our choosing, first up is Akayama Hidochi..." he stepped into the next room, holding the door open for a nervous looking girl with bright pink hair down to her waist.

Talk erupted immediatly in the classroom, as the students discussed different things, who their jounin sensei would be, who would be on their squad, or who would pass or fail and things of that nature. All but one student, who was sleeping peacefully at his desk, his book propped up to hide him, his messy brown hair covering his face. He suddenly sat up, or rather, was forced to sit up, as the person next to him yanked his ponytail, something he, unlike sensei, took pride in calling it such.

"ITE! I'm up! I'm up!" he yelped, rubbing the back of his head "what did I miss?" he aksed, turning his golden amber eyes on the boy sitting next to him, his eaqually long red hair spiked up in random places over his emerald eyes. "Sensei started calling people into the other room for testing, he might call you and you'd end up missing your chace and failing!" he said, frowning. Iruka walked back into the room alone, the young girl having left through a second door into another class for those that had taken the test. "Akimichi Chotero" he called out, the large boy waddling down the steps to the door, munching some dango as he went.

"Bah, you're so full of yourself, baka!" said a feminine voice from behind them. Bolth boys glanced back to see a girl with long blond hair, pulled up in back into a bun held together with multiple senbon, a lose jacket barely covering her rather large breasts, held together by nothing more than a large amount of bandages and a small fishnet belly shirt as a small skirt barely covered her eapually bound thighs and hips. "Eh, I'm still better than you Tenhime-chan" Said the brunette boy. His friend nodded, as each boy thought that she was talking about himself.

She sighed, rubbing her forhead, closing her aqua eyes as a vein appeared on her forhead. "Baka, even if you are _stronger_ than me, I'm _smarter_ than you." That one hit a sore spot. "Oh, I fail ONE test and you get after me. Atleast I dont go around kissing any guy or girl that crosses my pa-" he was cut off as a fist collided with the top of his head. Tenhime growled dangerously, cracking her knuckles. "_What was that?_" she muttered in a strained tone, through gritted teeth, her eye twitching dangerously. "Nothing...nothing..." the brunette whimpered, sitting next to his chair and seeming to shrink, a large lump having formed on his head. "baka..." the red-head muttered, rubbing the bridge of his nose.

"Oh, and you're any better Keru?" she snapped at him, glaring indignantly. "Yes, mainly because I dont pick fights I know I cant win." he said, turning away "Haru on the other hand, just runs in, reckless as ever." Haru shot up, pointing at his friend. "and what makes YOU all high and mighty, huh? I dont see YOU with all A's!" Keru sighed, rubbing his temples slightly. why he was friends with this loudmouth was beyond him at times, but it all worked out...eventually.

As the three argued, seven more people had left the room, so only a handfull were left. Iruka walked back into the room, and called off the next name. "Takanuchi Keru" he said, stepping aside. Keru sighed happily, glad to get away from all the yelling as he stepped down the aisle to the room, waving a short farwell to Haru and Tenhime, who had forgotten their argument and were shouting out goodlucks to him.

Keru entered the room, sighing and sweeping his hair back out of his eyes, sitting at a desk infront of him were two chuunins, Iruka, and another whom he hadn't met personally, but had heard of, Tento, his turquoise hair hanging down limply over onyx eyes. Tento looked at his paper, looking over Keru's grades and stats. "Takanuchi Keru...exells in weapons skills and taijutsu...practices katon(fire style)...average genjutu...above average ninjutsu...hmm.." he pondered, turning to Iruka "standard test?" Iruka nodded in aproval. "Keru, for your exam we will need you to create four complete Bunshin(clones)" Keru nodded and focused his chakra, imagining five more of himself standing in the room. There was a large puff of smoke, signalling either exess chakra...or a smoke bomb, whichever it was was unsure. but when the smoke cleared there were six Keru standing in a lineeach having their own respective poses. "alright" Iruka said, nodding "you pass" he held out a hitai-te, which keru accepted, bowing politely before leaving into the second room...which was surprisingly sparce, only about six other students were here...all of which had their hitai-te on random parts of their body. 'Must be the winners room...' he though to himself, taking a seat in a back corner away from everyone else.

-Meanwhile-

Haru and Tenhime were discussing how Keru would do, whlie all the others that were left, about nine or ten of them, discussed how they themselves would do. Haru finnally sighed. "man...this tension is killing me!" he mutered, closing his eyes and putting his hands behind his head, leaning back in his chair. Tenhime nodded, resting her elbows on the desk, her chin nestled comfortably in the palms of her hands. "yeah...but Keru will do well, he may not be the best, but he's pretty damn good..." Haru nodded as Iruka came back in, calling in a girl with short blond hair and lavender, pupil-less eyes. Tenhime noticed this and blinked. "hey...the hokage's daughter jsut got called up...I wonder how she'll do..." she whispered, blinking at the door.

She had always found the young girl attractive, but unfortunately, she was of such high standing, as bolth the daughter of the Rokudaime Hokage, but also a member of the Hyuuga clan. Haru chuckled, knowing about her feelings for the girl, but never teasing her about it. afterall, he liked her too. "so, ya think i'm gonna pass?" he said, tilting his head so he saw her, upside-down. She sighed and flicked his nose. "of cource, baka, you may be stupid but you're still good, geeze. It's me I'm worried about..." she put her face in her hands, sighing yet again.

Haru sighed now, continuing to look at her and ignoring the slight sting in his nose. "you're gonna pass tenhime-chan, dont worry, you're the smartest girl in class, and you've got the best chakra control Iruka sensei has ever seen, even better than Sakura-sensei" he said, referring to their school nurse, who usually had all the boys constantly hurting themselves, and even Tenhime a few times, on purpose, for the express purpose of going to see her.

Tenhime blushed slightly, rolling her eyes. "baka, its not that, its just that i'm nervous..arent you?" she asked, arching her brow at him. He simply shrugged. "eh, if I don't tou-san and ka-san will understand, they failed the first time round too, heck, tou-san failed two times in a row. me failing once wont be the end of the world in their eyes. and if I fail, I'll get to have another go at it and get better." he said, a goofy grin invading his face. Tenhime couldn't help but laugh at him. "you know, you're like the little brother I never had" she said, poking his forhead and causing his chair to tip forwards again. "yeah, I know" he said, the door opening up.

They were the last students in the class and they hadn't even realised. Iruka looked up at them and smiled, his best student, and his second-favourite student, Naruto being the first. "Yukihana Tenhime, you're next" he said, stepping aside. She nodded and headed down, waving and smilling, slightly worried though. "you'll do great! see ya on the other side!" Haru called down to her, grinning and sighing, laying back in his seat as she walked into the room. once the door closed behind sensei, he grinned, knowing iruka wouldnt sit in this desk till those who passed would be given their jounin sensei' tomorow, he sneaked up, and pulled out a whoopie cusion, inflating it and sitting it tenderly underneath the cusion of his sensei's chair, before heading quickly back up to sit in his seat, pulling out a pensil and doodling on the desk for the next student to see.

-With Tenhime-

"Alright Tenhime" Tento said, going over her stats "exllent taijutsu, average genjutsu and ninjutsu, and above average weapons skill, mostly practices with minor earth and water style jutsu...highest GPA on record" he said, sounding impressed "think we should give her something challenging, Iruka?" he asked his friend, who nodded smiling. "Tenhime, we would like you to use a substitution on something in this room." he said, motioning to the barren walls for all but a few posters, a box of small scrolls, and the desk at which they sat. She nodded and focused her chakra, an image floating into her mind as she concentrated, dissapearing suddenly, not even a cloud of smoke appearing, signalling the lack of unused chakra, as, Tento's hitai-te fell to the ground, Tenhime standing behind him with a pensil pressed lengthwise to the side of his neck, balanced easily on the back of his chair.

To say tento was surprised would be an understatement. He had expected her to use a scroll, or box to use the jutsu with, but to use an article of the opponent's clothing as such was unheard of. to think of that in a minutes notice proved she truely was a strategist. Tento blinked a few times, all the while Iruka howled with laughter, grinning and beating his fist on the table. "Y-you...p-p-pass..." he wheezed between laughs, holding up her hitai-te as she returned Tento's, accepting it and walking into the next room, spotting keru and waving to him, wrapping the hitai-te around her waist like a belt, loving how its navy mixed with her clothes.

As Tenhime left tento turned to iruka. "and just what was so funny, Iruka-_san_. he said, narrowing his eyes. Iruka only chuckled. "the look...on your face when she did that was priceless...reminded me of something Naruto would pull, were he still an acadamy student...although, rather than mock threatening your life, he probably would have done something more...humiliating...such as...use your boxers as his substitution?" he smiled, getting up and walking to the door, leaving a dumbstruck Tento, with a red face at the idea of that young girl touching his underwear.

Iruka opened the door, finding a sleeping Haru in his chair. Sighing he picked up an eraser from the chalkboard and whipping it at Haru, cracking him straight in the forhead with a corner."ITE!!!" the boy howled, this being the second time he's gotten hit in the head in the last hour, falling off his chair in pain and hitting the back of his head on the desk behind him...making it the thi-fourth, he hit the floor on the way down, now sporting multiple lumps. "ite..." he whinned, tears in his eyes as he sat up. Iruka could only sigh and rub his forhead. the similarities were uncanny. "bah, Haru, you're up, so get down here." he said, holding the door open as haru pulled himself up, walking down to the door and throwing iruka a scating glance before walking into the room, rubbing his aching head.

Tento looked down at the paper infront of him as the boy walked in. "Takami Haru...average taijutsu, below average genjutsu, above average ninjutsu and weapons. average grades...exells in running away and pulling pranks..." he sighed, rubbing his head. the last thing this village needed was another kid causing trouble for the chuunin to clean up. "normal test, iruka?" he asked, sighing Iruka nodded, taking a seat. "Haru, We would like you to make five functional bunshin, alright?" he sighed, even if haru was his second fravourite under naruto, he was almost too much work to earn the title at times.

Haru nodded, grinning and focusing the chakra, a blue mist forming over his body as he concentrated, imagining the six of him standing around, looking awsome. a puff of smoke was seen as the exess chakra was released into the air, revealing, when it cleared, three Harus..and two mis-shapen multi-colored lumps on the ground...that resembled haru in some way. "aww man..." haru sighed, stomping the ground. Tento looked at Iruka "3/5...pretty average" he whispered, his hand hovering with the tip of the pensil between "pass" and "fail" on his clipboard. iruka nodded. "Yes...but he is better than this." he said, grinning "Haru, you pass" he said, smiling and handing him his hitai-te. It took haru about three minuts to process this. but when he did get it, the clones exploded into clouds of smoke as a triumphant yell was heard from him. "YATTA!!!"

-all the while-

Keru and Tenhime were discussing Haru's chance of passing...which, they thought it over, was just as he was, average. 50-50. they were getting worried, as it took an awful long time for him to come into the room. "I hope he passed...baka..." Tenhime muttered, crossing her arms in worry. "eh, he'll do fine, you and I bolth know that, we've gone over it a thousan times in the ten minutes you've been here." he said "My concern right now isn't weather or not he passes, its who's team he's on when he-"but he was cut off as the door opened, Iruka looking solumly up at them, then looking away and heading to the desk, acting like they were in surgery, waiting to see if their friend had made it, and had gotten bad news. they bolth lowered their heads, sighing. "guess he failed then..." they muttered as one.

A cheery tone appeared next to em. "who failed? I hope if wasnt Uriko..." the person said. Tenhime sighed, looking up at the person and muttering. "no Haru you baka...you...failed...wait..." she blinked several times, taking a double take as Keru looked up, rubbing his eyes and taking in the sight before him, Tenhime doing the same. Before them stood Haru, his hitai-te strapped proudly to his forhead, grinning like he had just become hokage. "HARU!" they cried out, standing and grinning. "you passed!" "Iruka-sensei gave us this weird look that made us think you didnt!" "you didn't tell him to pull that on us did you?" "Yeah, if you did I'll beat you to a pulp!" They talked, one after another, as if they had rehearsed it. Haru only sweatdropped, as that _had_ been his plan. "er...no...why would you think that?" he chuckled unconvincingly, but they didnt seem to care. "baka!"

They grinned and sat next to eachother, after Tenhime and Keru had a go punching haru in the shoulder gently, just as Iruka stood up, adressing the class as a whole, or, a whole minus the few that didn't pass. "Okay students, congratulations on becoming genin, and proving yourself as full ninja of the hidden leaf village!" a burst of cheers and whoops from teh students. "the road ahead of you is a hard one, littered with danger, but I know, after watching you all preform today, and during every test you've taken so far, that you are all more than ready of this title." haru couldnt help but burst out "wel if we're more than ready, why dont you promote us to chuunin?" there were a few chuckles around the room, along with a single "how troublesome..." from a dark-haired girl in the third row. Iruka himself chuckled at this even, grinning "well then, I'll expect to see you all here bright and early for school tomorrow, to meed your jounin senseis, and, of cource, say goodbye to all your senseis here at the acadamy." he forced a smile as he said that, tears in his eyes, close to leaking down his face if he wasnt careful. not a student in the class missed this and all smiled. as a final note, iruka spoke up. "class..."

"Dismissed!"

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so, what do you think? kind of corny beginning, tiny bits of pre-fluf in that one paragraph, but overall promising, no 3000 words...in 45 minutes! wow o.o just wait for the next chapter, it will be up by friday!

ja ne!


	2. With Squads and Senseis

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, or any respective clans. I only own myself, Haru, and the plotline, along with tenten's(supposed) last name. Tokka-sensei goes to...well..Tokka-sensei, Tenhime-chan to my nee-chan, and Kyru to my cousin Brandon.

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**Naruto - A New Path**

**Chapter 2 - With Squads and Senseis**

It was the next morning at the academy. All the students were sitting in their chairs that had passed...exept one. Takami Haru was currently running through the halls of the academy, his classroom in sight as he rounded a corner. Putting on an extra burst of speed, he leaped through the open door, landing at iruka's feet just as the bell to begin the day rung.

A boy in the third row with spikey brown hair and red marks on his cheeks lept to his feet, swinging his arms outwards. "SAFE!" he barked, laughing as he sat back down, a few other kids in the class chuckling along. Tenhime, who was sitting in the fourth row near a window sighed, rubbing her forhead. "Baka..." she muttered, a small smile adorning her features. She had undergone a few changes overnight, hte main one being the fact that a single, yet large lock of hair, tucked behind her left ear, was a brilliant cherryblossom pink in color. She had also cared to put on more leg bindings, and less bindings under her fishnet top.

Kyru on the other hand, was looking down at him, a grin also showing on his face, watching haru stand as he brushed a few crimson hairs out of his face, his hitai-te glinting neatly on his forhead, as Tenhime's did on her waist, and he brushed a bit of dust from his jacket, the his families crest(a spiraled lion's tail) adorning the back where the usual jounin's spiral would be. his navy navy pants bound slightly at the ankle, leading down to his sandals as he crossed his arms.

Haru finnally brushed himself off, his hitai-te strapped proudly to his forhead, as was most of the kids in the rooms. He wore a strange shirt, it being a grey in color, the traditional jounin swirl on the chest, rather than the back. But it wasn't the swirl that made it unusal, but rather, the sleves. The one on his left was almost non-existant, cutting off at his mid-upper arm and clinging to it, the family crest(a circle with a wavy line through it, a crecent moon on either side pointed in oppocite directions) prominent on it. The other sleeve however, was rediculously long, hanging all the way down to his mid-thigh. While no crest adorned this sleeve, his lower left arm was covered in a fishnet glove, more fishnet visible under the wide collar of his shirt. His pants were similar to riku's, only, instaid of blue they were black, with another of his families seal on his left knee.

"It was good of you to join us Haru" Iruka chuckled, looking upon his student for what he believed to be the last time. "Take your seat and I'll read off the names of the squads and their jounin instructors." he motioned twords haru's seat, chuckling inwardly for the surprise that awaited the young genin. _Prank a teacher will you...ESPECIALLY Naruto-kun's old teacher..._ He chuckeld outwardly this time, but Haru didn't take any notice, believing Iruka was still unaware of his prank.

Haru walked up to his seat, smiling at Tenhime and Kyru, slowly sitting down.

A loud, long, fart was heard by the class, coming from beneath Haru.

Reactions were mixed. Tenhime was bright red, her eye twitching madly in anger and embarrasment, while Kyru on the other hand was laughing his ass off. Several other kids in the class were laughing also, the young Inuzuka who had made the comment on his arrival was laughing the hardest, holding his side and pointing at the embarrased preteen. The lavender eyed blond was giggling quietly, her hand over her mouth. She may be boysterous at times, much like her father, but she knew it wasn't fun to make fun of others...even if it was hillarious.

Haru quickly stood up, looking down at his seat but seeing nothing, he blinked, lifting the stool to imspect it, and when he did so, everyone only laughed harder, the young Uzumaki girl finnally letting out a loud laugh. Haru looked puzzled, untill he looked at his pants.

The whoopie cussion from under Iruka-sensei's cusion was _GLUED_ to his backside. Haru pulled it off quickly, luckily the glue was still wet enough so that it wouldn't rip his pants, but he shuddered. These pants were designed to not let moisture through, not even humidity. Well, not in atleast, that way sweat could get out and not cling to the material, but outside sources of water couldn't get in, that being the reason he didn't feel it stick. Groaning audibly he took out a small tissue from his sleeve(he suffered from chronic nosebleeds, it being a curse of his family) and wiped it off, finnaly sitting down, but not before chucking the paper wad at his teacher.

Iruka dodged the pall of dense tissue and glue, it sticking to the wall just beneath the blackboard. "Haru" he said between chuckles "I hope this teaches you not to prank your sensei from now on, understand?" he smiled, hoping that the message got through. Haru meerly nodded in acknowlagement, sighing and looking out the window.

Iruka smiled and took a clipboard from his desk, smiling up at the stuents. "I'm so proud of all of you, it seems like only yesterday you walked through those doors for the first time. "he smiled as he said this, tears pooling in his eyes as they always did when he had to watch his students leave. "I wish you all luck in the future and hope to see you again from time to time, so dont forget me!" he raised his voice slightly at this last part, as though it was their final assignment.

He raised the clipboard and smiled. "Since there are already active teams of genin, the teams will be as follows." he started, looking at the pairings on the list. "team ten - Hoshichiru Takeda" a boy with brown hair nodded, looking arond the room. "Teitoshima Hasame" a girl with aqua hair cracked her knuckles intimidatingly at the boy, apparently holding a grudge. "and Arusaya Tenso." a boy with navy blue hair grinned, looking down at Hasame with a blush on his cheeks. "Your jounin sensei is Aburame Shino" they nodded, acknolaging their bug-weilding sensei for when he entered the room.

Iruka looked down at the next names on the list "squad eleven, Akimichi Chotero" the large boy nodded, munching a box of donuts he seemed to have pulled from his shuriken holster, how this was possible noone knew. "Nara Shikaya" a girl with a bored expression on her face and a long black ponytail sighed, muttering about this being 'troublesome' Iruka spoke up again "and Yamanaka Inosai" A boy with long blond hair nodded, his hitai-te strapped around his neck like a choker as he sucked on a sucker, grinning. "your sensei is Hitsuruya Tenten" Iruka said, smiling. The three nodded

Iruka looked at his list again, memorising the next two teams. "Squad twelve, Inuzuka Kaido" he said, the boy from before grinning and whooping, his small brown dog yipping happily. "Mitarashi Anten" a boy with violet hair and blue eyes nodded, grinning sadisticly "and Uzumaki Hana" the young blond girl nodded respectfully, looking back at her teamates, wondering how her dad would react to the teams. "Your sensei is Hyuuga Hanabi" Hana gasped, she did not know her aunt was the sensei type, and hoped she wouldnt either embarras her, or give her special treatment. She didn't want special treatment, refusing a special teacher when offered one and skipping his sessions, to go to the academy.

Haru scanned the room...all the others had been chosen for teams, meaning...

Iruka smiled up at the three, setting down the clipboard and crossing his arms over his chest, leaning against his desk. "Squad Thirteen, Takanuchi Keru, Yukihana Tenhime, and Takami Haru, jounin sensei Hatake Tokka" The three looked around eachother, shock evident on their faces before jumping up and yelling in unison "YES!" while high-fiveing eachother.Iruka smiled up at them and sighed happily. "your jounin sensei should arive shortly, so dont worry." he looked around slowly, taking in all their faces again. the alarm on his watch went off and he looked down, realising what time it was. "oh, almost forgot, sorry everyone, I'd love to see you off, but I've gotta meet the hokage soon...well, sayonara minna"(goodbye everyone) He said before he poofed away in a cloud of smoke.

About ten minutes passed after Iruka left, and in that time Hanabi had arrived, smiling smugly. apparently, she had developed the Hyuuga's 'holier-than-thou' attitude, but thankfully not to her cousn Neji's degree before he had met Naruto. She rounded up her genin and they headed off to introduce themselves fully to their sensei, not that Hana needed any introduction to her aunt. Another five minuts and Shino walked through the doors, rounding up his squad and leaving quickly, not even having to say a word as they all seemed to know what he would say. Yet another five minutes and Tenten made her appearance, she smiled down at her squad, and noting that she had a child from all three of her friends...one of whom married that bitch from the sand,(coughshikamarucough) and rounded them all up with a hearty "alright squad! move out!"

The ten minutes after that were antagonising for squad thirteen, Haru had run out of edges of his desk to doodle on, while still leaving room for future troublemakers(the desk had already held doodles from a young naruto before he had come across it) but the remaining hour after that was simply _unbearable_. After about ten minutes afte that Haru had had enough. "thats it...I'm starving, who's in on going to Ichiraku's for some miso beef ramen? my treat!" he said, his stomach growled loudly to exaggerate his point. Keru sighed and nodded, while Tenhime downright refused. "No, we should wait here for our sensei, what if he shows up and thinks we bailed on him? he might not teach us!" she said, frowning and putting her hands on her hips, standing above her 'brother', this only being because she was on a higher level then him, she may have been older, but he was still taller, what with his unsatable appetite and monstrous metabalism.

Haru sighed. "fine, you stay, me and keru will go and get takeout and bring it back, allright?" he said, rubbing his head at his 'sister's' stubbornness. She refused again. "no, you should know better than anyone why you dont go off and leave when someone could show up at any moment? how many times have you missed something exiting at the academy because your _stomach_ told you to eat?" she tapped his forhead, stll frowning. Keru chose this moment to step in. "an army marches on its stomach" he said, heading for the window, as it was the straightest rout to the famous(with Naruto's help) ramen stand. Tenhime was about to argue, when her stomach betrayed her, growling louder than anyone had thought possible. Her cheeks turned a bright red color, her eye twitching slightly as she staired down at her traterous stomach, which simply growled agian, more urgently than before. She sighed and resigned, nodding and heading for the window as Haru let out a cry of triumph.

As Keru put his foot up to jump out the window, the door of the room slid open, revealing a man with sandy blond hair, what appeared to be a blackish-blue turtleneck type neck coating on...well...his neck. he wore a simple fishnet top, with an open jounin vest over it...a very SMALL jounin vest, making a shiver slide up and down Haru's spine. his pants were short, and seemed to be made of a leathery substance, though leather itself only made for good neckbands. His black hitai-te held up his bangs out of his eyes, had anyone been able to see them behind the bright pink novel he held infront of it, titled(and rightly so) "Icha Icha _Yaoi_ Paradise"(come come gu-on-guy paradise) Seeing this book made tenhime completely forget her hunger, as she had this book, and its sequel, safely tucked into an inside pocket of her jacket at this very moment...

"sorry i'm late...I got lost on the path of life" He said in a dream-like tone, lowering the book enough to see his new student's faces.

His dull grey eyes traveled over Keru's form, foot still resting on the window frame, then to Tenhime, who was staring at the book in her teacher's hand, that was, untill her stomach growled, allerting her to the need of food yet again.

His eyes then traveled to a shocked Haru, who immediately watched the grey irises move up and down, taking in his form. Haru sidestepped to his left, the eyes followed, he stepped twice to the right, they followed again, he ducked and jumped as high as he could and the eyes continued to follow him...a slight blush appearing on his sensei's cheeks, which were no longer hidden by his book, it having been closed gingerly and tucked inside his jacket.

Haru immediatly took note of this, his eye twitching dangerously.

"GYAAA!" he cried, jumping back and stumbling over a leg of one of the chairs, falling over as his eye continued to twitch. Keru and Tenhime looked between the two, tenhime recalling the book her sensei had been reading upon his arrival, the shocked/disgusted look on her 'brother's face, and the steadily increasing blush on her sensei's face, it didn't take a genious to put two and two together...

"_hah! tokka sensei likes Haru_" she thought triumphently, grinning inwardly as to not betray herself to her surrogate brother. "er...Tokka-sensei..." Kyru spoke up, arching his brow, still in the dark on the subject, having not read the title of the book. "we were about to go out for ramen...care to join us?" he asked, still poised to spring. The man shook from his daze, thinking privately "_Damn...he...he...damn..._" before looking to kyru again. "sure, we can introduce ourselves there." he nodded, still watching Haru from the corner of his eye.

When they arrived, tokka was surprised at just how MUCH ramen Haru ordered, that couldn't be healthy.

"I'll have seven bowls of miso beef ramen Ayame-chan!" he smiled, pulling out his large cat-shaped wallet, opening the mouth. Tokka had never seen anything so cute...well...ok, he had...and the cuter thing was holding it...so it was the second, being held by the first...wait, where were we again?

Kyru sighed, his hunger wasn't as greatas his friends, but all the same, he was hungry. "just one bowl of shrimp Ayame-san" he said, rubbing his head. Tenhime piped in "Same here, only diet, what would you like Tokka-sensei?" she asked as ayame nodded, getting the bowls ready. "_oh...I know what I want...but unfortunately its not ramen..._" he thought privately, still watching an enthusiastic Haru from the corner of his eye. "oh...just some pork ramen would be nice" he said, nodding. Ayame apparently heard this as she got another bowl ready, sitting down one for each of them, before another...and another for Haru. "Itadakimasu!" they chanted in unison

"_where dose it all go?_" Their new sensei wondered, blinking as the boy nearly inhaled the first bowl, sighing happily. "great as ever Ayame-chan!" he said, smiling. She mealy giggled at the praise. "well, I'm glad you like it, as our second best customer if you like it, almost everyone has to." she smiled, giggling slightly.

Everyone knew that Naruto was their best customer, as if not for him, ayame would not have gone to school, seeing as naruto's frequent ramen stops eventually paid for her schooling. Yeah, He ate that much ramen. And by the looks of it, if Haru continued down the hokage's path, she would have enough to go again if she desired to, or even for any kids she might have to go. She wished her father was still alive to see how well the store was doing now, he had passed away several years ago, and Haru barely remembered him. All he knew was that the man had decided not to charge him taxes, well, atleast when hokage-sama was there atleast, and even then, the tax was reduced to about half.

Haru inhaled another bowl, just as his fifth was sit down and he started on his fourth. Tokka thought this was a good enough time as ever to start introductions. "well, lets start off with you" he said, motioning to the one closest to him, Kyru. "name, likes, dislikes, goals, the usual." he said, listing off things his father had asked his students. Kyru nodded, finishing his mouthfull of noodles and swallowing. "Takanuchi Kyru, I like practicing with my katon styles and following that loser around to make sure he dosn't in trouble, I dont like it when he actually manages to get in trouble, because it usually means I'll get dragged into it one way or another." He took another mouthfull of noodles before finishing, as to not let the noodles get cold "my goals are to become a strong shinobi so I can watch his and Tenhime-chan's backs so nothing happens to 'em" he nodded going back to his ramen.

The jounin nodded, heading to Tenhime, letting her know she was next. She nodded and smiled "Yukihana Tenhime, Likes Writing and reading" '_mostly smut_' she thought to herself as an afterthought "I dislike it when people make fun of me or Haru-chan" she giggled, ignoring the indignant look on the boy's face as she said this, him unable to talk due to the large ammounts of noodles in his mouth. "and my goals are pretty much the same as Kyru's, I mean, we've known eachother since we started at the academy-" "longer" Kyru cut in, before taking another moutfull of noodles. "right...before the academy really...so why wouldn't I want to protect them?" she smiled.

Their sensei nodded in approval, taking in a deep breath and holding back a blush as he turned to the ramen-intake-device sitting at the end of the bench. "and you?" he asked, finnally taking in a bit of his noodles, hoping the steam produced by the hot broth would act as a cover for his rapidly reddening face.

Haru grinned, finishing off his sixth bowl, about to start on his last. "Takami Haru, I like Ramen, messing around with these two, pulling pranks-" "or trying to atleast" Tenhime giggled at kyru's comment, recalling today's incident, which had by now reached the hokage's ears via Iruka-sensei, infact, if they had left an hour ago they would have found the hokage laughing here, holding his sides at the story Iruka told him, but, they wern't, so back to our story!

"anyways" he continued " I also like drawing and building stuff out of scrap I find around the village. I dont like most vegatables, or when people mess with me. and when Tenhime-nee-chan gets over-protective." he said, earning a scowl from his 'sister', and a chuckle from Kyru. "My goal is like the others, but I wanna be the best ninja I can be, but not hokage. _waaaaaay_ too much paperwork for a guy like me." he said, chuckling and starting on his last bowl.

Tokka finnally though they should get to know him a bit. "well, I'm Hatake Tokka, son of Hatake Kakashi no Sharingan." he said, getting bland reactions from his students. Apparently his father didn't carry as much weight as he used to in his younger days...ah well. "I like reading my novels-" he was cut off by Tenhime "a fact I'm very proud of" she said, smiling, earning a confused look from her sensei. "and why would that be?" he asked, arching his brow. "well, sensei, why wouldn't I be? I wrote the damn thing!" she said, pulling out her own copy.

Tokka's jaw _**DROPPED.**_ like a rock. straight to the ground. This girl, this _fifteen_ year old girl(she failed the academy a few times) wrote the book he's been reading for a good year and a half? Incredible. "told you I liked reading...say...you know how the next book isnt supposed to release till next year?" she asked, teasing him and revealing a book bound in a luring red color inside her jacket, causing her sensei's eyes to bulge at this information. "puh-lease!" he whined, holding out his hands in mock prayrer, his head bowed low. Haru and Kyru had long since finished eating, and ayame had already taken their bowls to a sink in back, when she returned she saw Tenhime with an advanced, author's copy of her favourite book's next edition, Icha Icha Yaoi Nighttime...she was surprised to say the least.

"fine, fine. dont worry tokka-sensei...here..." she pulled out a pen, autographing the cover and smiling, handing it to him. the joy on his face was undescribable. in getting the book he had completely forgotten about bolth his ramen, and his introduction."_If I play my cards right...I just might be able to get some reaserch done for my next book..._" she said, looking between her 'brother' and her sensei, still fawning over the book. She saw the awstruck look on Ayame's face, accompanied by the blush tinting her face a bright pink, and smiled, whispering to her "dont worry ayame-san, i'll get you a copy tomorow" she finished her ramen, got up and walked away, skipping happily as Haru paid and walked with her. "you know...I really hate those books" He muttered. Sure, he had bought the magenta clad volume she had written, "Icha Icha Yuri Paradise"(come come girl-on-girl paradise) when it came out, but yaoi was another thing. a completly different thing. Kyru nodded, sighing as he put his hands behind his head. things seemed normal, although the feeling of having their hitai-te would take some getting used to.

This was going to take a long time.

* * *

Well, hope you like it! Took me a while to type this one up! 3775 words! and only in...1 hour and 25 minutes? ouch...ah well. 

how'd ya like that twist about Tokka-sensei? The teams could have better sensei in my opinion, but I couldn't be arsed to write up new senseis and backgrounds for each. And the bit about Tenhime writing the icha icha yaoi books? yeah, nee-chan suggested that. Along with yuri. yeah, she's like that. dont dis, she's cool like that. you're just jealous because you'll never be cool like that.

And how about that twist about haru NOT wanting to be hokage? eh? only downside - no pointy hat. TT-TT

T'was a worthy sacrifice for all that paperwork...but still, ya gotta love the pointy kage hat.

well, thats all till next time, read and review! please! I beg you!

ja ne!


	3. And So It Begins

Disclaimer: I do not own naruto, duh, If I did, it really wouldn't be what it is today. The only people I do own are the new ino-shika-cho kids, Kaido, Anten, Hana, and myself, Haru, along with any random people that may or may not pop up yet. Keru is owned by my cousin, and Tenhime by my nee-chan. now on with the story!

**Naruto - A New Path**

**Chapter 3 - And So It Begins**

It was the day after they had met Tokka-sensei, and our three young genin were sitting at Ichiraku Noodle Shop, Haru having been cut down to three bowls for himself after yesterday's buying ramen for everyone, so this was the minimum. Atleast if he wanted to have some money left over. Once Ayame had finished making their ramen, she had gone to a corner of the shop, behind the counter, and was happily reading the book that Tenhime had autographed and given to her.

It was Keru who spoke up first. "I just realised something..." He muttered, gaining his friends attention. "nani?" Haru mumbled, his mouth stuffed with noodles. "We just left Tokka-sensei here last night, and he never told us where to meet up with him again..." He said, taking in a few more of his noodles and sighing. Tenhime nodded, before turning to Ayame. "ne, Ayame-chan, did Tokka-sensei leave us a note or anything?" she asked, tilting her head to the side. Ayame whined and sighed, pulling out a bookmark and putting it in her book, pouting. "I'm trying to reeeaaad!" she whined again, still pouting. "But if you really want to know, he did leave this for you." She pulled out a small note, handing it to Keru and sighing. "now hurry up and finish, I'm closing up shop for the day so I can read." she went to her tasks, shutting things off, and putting things away. Haru sighed. "see what you did tenhime-chan? now we wont be able to come back today for more ramen!" he whined now, pouting.

Tenhime ignored her 'brother' and looked at the note, sighing and reading it aloud. "Meet me back at the academy courtyard around 9:00 A.M." she read, looking between the other two, who had bolth finished their ramen, and were looking expectantly at her. she sighed and turned to her bowl, finishing off the last of the noodles and broth, before leaving change on the counter for Ayame, her friends doing the same.

They headed off to the courtyard, with a few minutes to spare, and used this time to go over their techniques, strategies, and combos.it had taken them a little bit to realise, that over an hour had elapsed since they were supposed to meet their sensei.. "You've gotta be kidding me!" Haru yelled, his eye twitching as he went to rip out his hair."late, TWO DAYS in a row! who dose this guy think he is?" his hands flew up into the air in exasperation as he collapsed onto his back, staring up at the clouds.

Tenhime was sitting in the old swing that hung from a tree, rocking back and forth lazily as she nodded, also staring up at the sky. Keru on the other hand was using this time to train, beating up the lone practice dummy that was set up, it being adorned by several cracks and chips, although noone had ever been able to break it completely.

a half hour later, all three of them stopped whatever it was they were doing as a figure walked into the clearing, and haru lept to his feet, along with Tenhime. "You're late!" they said in unison, pointing at the perpetrator, who was still hidden behind his new icha icha book. "sorry bout that" he said in his usual tone "a few black cats crossed my path, so I had to take some new ones." he smiled gently as two of his students cried out "liar!" keru nodded, sighing. "I have thirteen different black cats tokka-sensei, if they were bad luck, i'd know" he said, rolling his eyes. "It's true" his teammates said exasperatedly. "thirteen black cats, four tabby, a calico, and two with bright orange fur." tenhime listed off "oh, and one grey one." she added as an afterthought, remembering the small grey kitten she had seen a few days ago.

Tokka-sensei mearly chuckled, putting his book away and grinning. "ah well, we've got training today before we take on any missions, so, if you'd follow me..." he said, turning and leaving as the others followed, haru rubbing the bridge of his nose as he went.

After a long walk they reached an all-too-farmilliar training ground, three stumps sticking out of the ground at one end. Tokka-sensei walked over to these three stumps and wheeled around to his students, all of whom quickly took this as a sign to pay attention.

"Well, now that you've passed the graduation exam, I think its only fair to warn you that you still have one test to complete" he said, looking between the three. Tenhime spoke up "wait, but what dose this test do? if we passed why do we need to take any more tests?" she asked, blinking. Tokka mearly smiled, putting up a finger. "the first test at the end of the academy was to weed out the weaker students, leaving only the moderate and better of the students." he held up a second finger "this test is to weed out even more of those students, leaving only the students either between moderate, or the best of the best." this statement made haru shift slighlty, seeing as he had barely passed the exam in the first place. "the ones who dont pass this test will be sent back to the academy., and the ones who do will be put into new squads for missions and such." he put down his hand and reached up with his other one, pulling...a single, silver bell from his jacket, holding it infront of the others for all to see. "this bell will be your exam. the one who gets the bell, will pass. the other two will be tied to one of these stumps untill tomorrow, then let go and sent back to the academy for another year."

this news shocked the three, only ONE would go on? how was that fair? "you cant do that!" Haru yelled out, pointing at his sensei, who only chuckeld. "Actually, I can. I've administered this test to every genin squad i've been put in charge of. my father did also. infact, this was almost the exact same test he gave our beloved rokudaime hokage" he said, tying the bell to his waist and smiling. "You've got five hours to releive me of this bell, if you dont, none of you pass. So come at me with the intent to _kill_" he said, the last word rolling sharply off his tounge "when I say so, begin." he smiled as keru pulled out a kunai getting ready, haru nodded, his sleeve hiding the half of a handsign he had ready, and tenhime was going over what she could do when one of the others signalled her.

"Begin" he said and they all jumped away, Haru following tenhime to talk to her. they landed in a tree and balanced themselves, haru down and clinging to the branch like a cat, while tenhime rested against the trunk, thinking. "i'll fail and help you get the bell..." haru whispered suddenly, sighing. "Like I said, my parents wont mind if I fail another year, and your parents will have a hissy-fit if you fail again, or they'll just tell you to up and quit, and that wouldnt be good for anyone." he said "i'll just try again next year and hope to be able to cheer you on or help you out every now and then" He smiled widely, almost reassuring her. "but haru...are you sure?" haru nodded and she sighed, knowing he was too hard-headed to be talked out of this. "alright,...lets get this over with."

Tokka had taken to leaning against the stumps, reading his new book and waiting for something, anything to happen. So what if he had altered his father's test a bit? Creative licencing. And the pitting them against eachother? Competetive learning. "_heh...bolth of those start with a "C" and an "L"...thats funny...huh? why is my hand wet?_" he thought to himself as a drop of water landed on his hand. He quickly put away his book and looked twords the rapidly forming stormclouds above him in wonder. "Forcast didn't say anything about rain..."

Haru stood in a clump of short bushes, his hands locked into a bird seal. "Water style, heavy rainfall" he muttered as stormclouds gathered above, infused with chakra to quicken their growth. This was a jutsu his mother had brought from the rain country, and was glad she did, as it meant it would work perfectly with what tenhime had in mind as she walked into the clearing...

Tenhime grinned, looking over at her sensei, who, strangely enough, was looking up at the sky, even if he had noticed the splashes her sandals made in the wet ground. Starting through the short handsigns he finnally looked down as she finished her handsigns. "earth style! earth release!" she said, slamming her palms into the ground, causing all the little grains of dirt and sand to repel eachother breifly, allowing water to seep between them and saturate them, a rather large area turning to mud around her.

Tokka mearly raised an eyebrow at her, wondering why she had simply walked out when she had perfectly set herself up for getting stabbed with a kunai or shuriken. this was made clear as haru burst from the bushes, heading straight for tokka, sliding effortlessly across the mud as though it was ice. "Two palms style, endless mudstream!" he said, raising his un-sleeved fist, ready to punch his sensei as he flew across the watered down earth. Ah, so that was it? make the terrain easier to move across? well, two could play at that game...

Tokka simply ducked under haru's swing, tripping him and sending him face-first into the mud as he turned to face tenhime, who had also slid across the mud at him. However, what he had not been expecting, was for her to dive, headfirst, into the mud at his feet, being completely absorbed by the thick brown stubstance. "this is new..." he said, as the mud was less than a foot thick, and he had to use a small ammount of chakra to stay 'afloat' in it. From somewhere around him, a voice called out "mud style: mud wrestling jutsu - perspective strike" before a leg shot from the mud between his legs, striking him right where the sun definatly dose not shine.

To say he was expecting this would be a downright, cold-hearted lie. His face contorted in pain, confusion, and slight anger that she had used THAT tactic to render him temporarily imobile. haru stood, grinning and running twords him, jumping at tokka only to have him duck out of the way again, but not before tenhime burst from the mud, grabbing haru's hand and spinning, throwing him back "balistic missile!" they said in unison, as the brown-haired boy hurtled twords his sensei, a kunai glinting dangerously from the depths of his long sleeve. tokka fell to the ground, but not before a fist from below sent him bouncing upwards, straight into the path of the blade-weilding boy.

Thankfully, a quick kawarimi caused the him to collide with a large clump of mud, soaring through it and past keru, who was at the ready, grabbing haru's other hand and throwing him at his sensei, who had only enough time to get himself out of the line of fire, but not out of the battle. Keru threw haru in the same fassion, sending him straight at their sensei, who went to dodge, only to find two hands grabbing his feet.

"mud style, earth-swallowing technique" said tenhime, her face emerging from the mud as she slowly started to pull her sensei down, keeping him rooted to the spot untill he was up to his waist in the thick brown substance. she must have made the mud deeper while in it, or simply the rain had started to come down faster, but in any case, he was now up to his hips in thick, brown, dirt-soup., and a hyperactive, knife-weilding boy was quickly hurtling twords him.

Tokka braced for teh worst, but it never came, opening his eyes he saw keru standing above him, holding the bell that had been tied to his waist, before jumping away, leaving a mud-coated, and througly shocked pair of friends gaping at him as he left. "he..." "did he just..." "he did..." "what the..." they continued to stare in disbelief at what their friend had just done, before it snapped. "that double-crossing bastard!" tenhime yelled, her fists clenching infront of her as she charged forwards, completely ignoring her half-buried sensei. Haru bolted after her, muttering countless profanities at his friend, and leaving behind a shocked and thoroughly annoyed Tokka. when he finnally regained his composure, he looked down, sighing. "ewwww...i've got mud in my shorts..."

-----------

Tenhime and haru bolted after their friend, vowing bloody murder at the boy that would cause them to be sent back to the academy, only to find they've gone full circle, and that he was sitting atop one of the stumps, swinging the bell back and forth lazily. "oi, guys, got you something." he said, holding out his hand. Blinking down at their friend they quietly made their way over to him. He opened his hands and revealed two small chunks of metal, each no larger than a pin-head. "and what are these?" tenhime asked, angrilly. to answer, keru held up the bell, which had been pried open with a kunai, revealing it to be empty. "the jingle from this bell. he said we had to have the bell, not what part afterall.

His two friends blinked, taking the small metal lump from his hands and scratching their heads. "sooo..." haru started "dose that mean we pass?" a voice spoke up from behind him. "as far as I can tell, only one of you has the bell...so my guess is no." said their sensei, who had managed to free himself from the mud. the three genin held up their respectfull peice of the bell, and tokak nearly choked. the bell he had received from his father upon his promotion to jounin was now split into three before him. He let out a muffled scream, taking the three pieces back from his students and trying to fix the bell, to small sucess. it held the metal lumps in, but unfortunately it didnt give off the same jingle as it had before...

"so..do we pass?" tenhime asked, scratching her cheek gently. regretfully, tokka nodded. "this exam was to test your teamwork, whih, you three used spectacularly..it wasn't really about the bell, but really working together..." he held up the mangled bell, sighing. "but seeing as you all _did_ manage to get a part of the bell...you passed bolth portions...which according to my father shouldnt be possible...man he's going to have a fit..." he sighed, rubbing his temples. "we'll talk to hokage-sama about missions tomorow...and i'll praise you three more on your teamwork later. untill then, I need to see someone about trying to get this bell fixed.." he whined again, flickering off.

The three of them grinned, tenhime, with her mud-coated face, haru, with his dirtied shirt, and keru, with not a speck of mud on him, for now atleast, started walking back. on the way tenhime and haru thought it was only fair that he get a nice mud bath along the way, so they shoved him face-first into a rather sloppy looking puddle, only to run away laughing at his expression when he looked up. Things might not be that bad afterall...who knew? Afterall, this was only the beginning.

------

Thanks for sticking through with me, we've got a bit of action, and some self-made jutsu. Tenhimes owner actually wanted her to use mud-style jutsu, rather than just earth or water, which usually combine into wood, she thought of mud. nice, sloppy, dirty, mud. as in mud wrestling. which she loves to see two girls going at it in. well, thats all for now, wish me luck on the next chapter!

ja ne!


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